Sarah Margaret Gibson

Sarah Margaret is a contemporary realist artist, specializing in portraits of people and of birds. Characterized by a rich tenebrism, Gibson’s work dramatically juxtaposes light against shadow. She believes that light, and all of its symbolic qualities, are most poetic when contrasted against dark. Building up her paintings from a series layers—contrasting heavy impastos against thin, delicate passages—she seeks to give her works a palpable depth and complexity. She aims to capture the personality and the life-force of her subjects, and to give the viewer a riot of details and varying textures, so that they can find something new to contemplate on each viewing.

Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Gibson received her formal training in drawing and painting in Florence, Italy, where she studied at the Angel Academy of Art and then The Florence Academy of Art, from which she graduated in 2013. She taught at the Florence Academy's intermediate studio from 2012-2015.
Gibson currently lives on the West coast of Scotland, where she has her private studio. In 2019 she co-founded the Glasgow Academy of Fine Art along with her husband, where she acts as Academic Director. Gibson's work is shown throughout the U.S. and Europe and can be found in the New Britain Museum of American Art and in numerous private collections.